Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Manufacturing
Predecessor	Benz & Cie.; Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft
Founded	1886
Founder	Karl Benz
Headquarters	Stuttgart, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Dieter Zetsche, Chairman
Products	Automobiles; Trucks; Buses; Internal combustion engines
Services	Financial services
Parent	Daimler AG
Divisions	Mercedes-Benz AMG
Website	www.mercedes-benz.com

Mercedes-Benz (German pronunciation: [mɛʁˈtseːdəs ˈbɛnts]) is a brand of cars, trucks, buses and coaches from the Daimler AG company of Germany. The company was once known as Daimler-Benz and is still sometimes called just "Mercedes." Mercedes-Benz is the world's oldest car maker and the cars they make cost a lot of money. The symbol of Mercedes-Benz is very famous. It is a three-pointed star inside of a circle and was designed by one of the men who started the company, Gottlieb Daimler. The three points of the star stand for land, air and sea because Daimler's engines were used not only in cars and trucks but in airplanes and boats. The symbol was first used in 1909.

Mercedes-Benz cars are an important part of the history of the car with many "firsts”. They were the first to build a diesel-powered car in the 1930s, the first to build a car with fuel injection in the 1950s and the first to offer antilock brakes in the 1970s. Mercedes-Benz cars have also been important in auto racing history.

Early daysEdit

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was the company's first production car, built by Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik Benz & Cie (known today as Mercedes-Benz) it was built in 1885 or 1886. It is often considered the first real gasoline -powered car. By 1901, the cars had become very popular among the rich, mostly because of the efforts of Emil Jellineck.